Finally catching up with this season, gotta pick this show up. Haven't checked the manga in a while so I've gotta re-read all that too. I do remember the art was really inconsistent. Some chapters would be absolutely gorgeous and some would have entire blank areas devoid of backgrounds.

The PVs make it look so dark and serious too, gosh. Couldn't they have thrown in a few pool scenes in the trailers just to lighten it up a little?

Poor Yuuko. Trapped by what others expect to see. I'm proud of Teiichi, though. While it isn't usually considered a good thing to deny what you see in favor of what you want to believe, in this case the fact that Teiichi could reassert his vision of Yuuko over the corrupted image Kirie had given him is impressive, and worthy of praise.

I hope nobody hates Kirie for this. She wasn't trying to deceive anyone. She really did see something horrific, that convinced her the lovely image of Yuuko she had been aware of was a trick. Kirie isn't a bad person. She really was trying to do what she thought was the right thing.

Of course, with this as their introduction to each other, I imagine people can understand now why she and Yuuko didn't exactly seem to get along very well in the first episode. Kirie still doesn't trust Yuuko, and Yuuko dislikes Kirie for what she did in this episode, not to mention that Kirie's continued distrust doesn't make it any easier for the two of them to get over their differences and get along.

Perhaps this episode makes it a bit clearer what I meant when I said this isn't a comedy? It's got humor in it, no question, but that isn't the focus of the series.

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I do remember the art was really inconsistent. Some chapters would be absolutely gorgeous and some would have entire blank areas devoid of backgrounds.

Apparently that was fixed in the book versions. I've seen a few comparisons.

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Couldn't they have thrown in a few pool scenes in the trailers just to lighten it up a little?

They only had one pool scene in the manga. Besides, trailers are short things, and tossing in something light and pretty next to the darker atmosphere would have just felt inconsistent and confused people.

I just realized no one here has talked about the newest episode. Copying my comments over from elsewhere, because I'm too lazy right now to think up new ones.

GAH! They changed one of the points of this story I really liked. Not a plot point, but Momoe was supposed to be the one who was dealing the cards! She set out five sets of cards for four people and one ghost! It was a whole big thing to me about how people perceive Yuuko, because it proved that Momoe was subconsciously aware of Yuuko even though she couldn't see her. Ugh. It probably didn't work because they cut out the adult who was staying with them... which, by the way, seems also like a completely unnecessary change.

Oho? There's a bit of a shout-out to "The Beckoning Window" mystery, with Yuuko jumping off the roof.

...Damn, that's a colorful sky above the pool.

Teiichi, when a girl strips naked at night and jumps into the pool, and then asks you to join her, she is not telling you to go get your swimsuit.

Bleh. Barbie-doll anatomy. If you're going to show Yuuko skinny-dipping, show it properly, dammit!

Ya know, I want to say something to point out how real that curse could of been and how dangerous it could of been, but when you start your sentence with 'When a ghost writes your name...' there is already several things wrong and the curse doesn't really need to be mentioned.

I'm glad they stated it plainly that what Kirie saw in the room was not actually Yuuko taunting her, but was simply Kirie's own fears, as a result of Yuuko's "you see what you expect to see" aura. I was dreading having to argue that into the thick skulls of people who would insist on seeing it as Yuuko deliberately torturing Kirie.

And we also got the touching moment (heh. "touching") of Kirie finally touching Yuuko for the first time. Remember that Yuuko said last time that Kirie never touched her. That physical contact has meaning to Yuuko far beyond a mere "get out of the way" push.

I don't know about the series as a whole, though. Up until this episode I could accept most of the stuff they've skipped as earlier, lighter stuff that wasn't necessary. But with this episode they've jumped over a number of actually important and powerful scenes that I think really were necessary, both for story and character development. I don't know what they're trying to do, but I think they're really starting to hurt themselves with the way they're going about this.

I would have thought episode 5 would have picked up where episode 4 left off: with the shadow looming over Kirie. That should have been the point to start going into that, but instead they skipped it, skipped a whole crapload of plot development, as well as character development for Yuuko and for Teiichi, and went straight to the lighthearted first day of the school festival. And from the preview, it sounds like next episode they're trying to do a particular story without having done its setup first, meaning it's probably going to lose a fair amount of its impact.

I think the test of any such impact will be how people who haven't read the original material react to the adaptation. What it's doing, I think clearly, is setting up a singular core plot arc of an ongoing manga into 12 episodes.

Your dark shadow you were expecting to be expounded upon immediately will likely be saved for the core plot when they move onto it, as its existence is likely going to be the only major plot you're going to get. Similarly, the change of the card game and removal of the adult were, pretty evidently, primarily a time-saving measure to spare them the need to introduce a one-shot(?) character that will be irrelevant to the remainder of the show. This might be worse in your opinion, but it needn't necessarily be adaptation decay if it holds up on its own.

As someone who is watching this without knowledge of the manga, I'll say it has definitely done that much for me. I personally wouldn't be surprised to see this delve off into anime-original territory as they will probably want to go into the core plot of Yuuko's memories, which may or may not have been addressed in full in the original material given its ongoing nature.

Your dark shadow you were expecting to be expounded upon immediately will likely be saved for the core plot when they move onto it, as its existence is likely going to be the only major plot you're going to get.

The kids have known about the shadow since chapter 13. Well, Kirie saw her long before then, but it was made much more blatant to her then, and was revealed to Teiichi as well. Yuuko herself has known what the shadow is since chapter 15. The latest translated chapter of the manga is chapter 33. Knowledge of that thing, what it is, why it's there, etc. is by no means enough to resolve the plot.

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As someone who is watching this without knowledge of the manga, I'll say it has definitely done that much for me.

We'll see how the next episode turns out. The preview makes it pretty clear what story it's going to be about, but I don't think it will work without the setup and introduction of a character that the anime has skipped over completely.

You miss my point. The anime will likely only cover that one major plot point. It will not resolve the entire plot because the entire plot is unresolved in that the manga has not concluded. But it will likely be the only major plot you get in this anime barring anime-original concluding elements I believe are likely. (Its reveal and knowledge of the what would only be two of three parts to this plot point, the third being actual resolution.)

Looking at a list of chapter titles, it seems clear to me they've been jumping around doing side stories with elements of plot and character development; they will likely do the shadow story and then segue into whatever they want to do for the core amnesia plot. If this has been resolved in the manga, then that will likely be what they follow. If it has not, then they'll probably go anime-original for it.

There is very little that says that an adaptation of a story in the manga need follow that story lock and step. If this next episode requires a character, that character will probably be introduced and whatever core elements of that story necessary to the episode's plot will be followed in some aspect. If the character isn't important in the storyboard writer's mind, well, you saw what they did with the teacher who was supposed to be present in their overnight stay at school. Wasn't deemed important, was removed. Perhaps because the teacher is the important character you refer to and they wanted to do that more lighthearted story first.

If this next episode requires a character, that character will probably be introduced and whatever core elements of that story necessary to the episode's plot will be followed in some aspect.

I don't think this character can be introduced, the issues surrounding her be revealed, and all of it be resolved in one episode and still be effective. One of the reasons the upcoming events were effective in the manga is because we "knew" the character beforehand.

Eh, nevermind. It hasn't aired yet, so I'll wait and see how it works.

I actually was pushed to read the manga by RW's comments to see what the heck he's on about and continue to believe his concerns to be vastly overblown.

Frankly, I think I see the rest of the anime quite easily from this vantage point and, rewatching the preview for the next episode...honestly I don't know how RW thinks he knows what story is next, since all the previews use very obtuse language. The one I would personally assume would not suffer from his missing character since she has zero presence in it. (Revised: I think I misidentified who the "missing character" was, but I maintain the overarching belief that the anime isn't doing the story he thinks it is.)

Beyond that, honestly...I prefer the anime's more lighthearted nature and probably would have preferred to experience the story first that way. But curiosity killed the cat. Or the cute ghost girl.

rewatching the preview for the next episode...honestly I don't know how RW thinks he knows what story is next, since all the previews use very obtuse language.

The wording only fits one existing storyline: the one that comes chronologically right after the one that was in this episode. The next day of the festival, and a girl who has come to despise the name "Yuuko."

It occurs to me that if people see the Yuuko they go looking for, what does it say about Teiichi that the Yuuko he sees is constantly throwing herself at him?

It says he's a normal teenage male, I guess.

People do like to theorize stuff like that, but at this point it's pretty well accepted that Teiichi is seeing Yuuko as she actually is. Not to mention that Kirie is seeing Yuuko throwing herself at Teiichi too, and it's pretty clear that isn't what she wants to be seeing.

Yep. The artist, Maybe, seems to have a tendency to draw people (or at least, kids) looking older than they actually are. Case in point: Yuuko, who is physically supposed to be 15. Anyway, it's assumed that Teiichi will be turning 13 before the end of the school year, although his exact birthday is unknown. Momoe and Kirie are both 14, and Yuuko is, as I said, 15 (plus roughly 60 years dead, but they don't count).